I have a daughter with dyslexia. For my sweet girl, one of the most confounding aspects of her learning disability is a poor working memory and the amount of effort (and incredible repetition) needed in order to move information from "temporary storage" into her permanent, long-term memory. During the elementary years, it can take a dyslexic students YEARS of practicing parts of speech, place value, multiplication tables, writing dates and months before they TRULY master it and put it into their long-term memory.

I'm going to *guess* that you've probably received a few emails and have seen a few social media posts about the Build Your Bundle Sale? Honestly, in years past... I thought it was obnoxious. I'd even purchased a bundle here and there, but I tend to ignore "the thing" everyone is talking about. I couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about. But the truth of the matter was I never really looked into it either- I totally blew it off.

Over this past year, my attitude has evolved. I've become a huge fan of digital curriculum for two reason: space and MONEY. Digital curriculum is almost ALWAYS less expensive, while not lacking anything in quality, AND I don't have to have a bookshelf for it. Win. Win.

The numbers are impressive, so what about content?How much value is truly in each or these bundles... Or is there just filler?

Is it time to get in gear for next year (or maybe just survive the end of this one)? Regardless of where you are right now, a well-constructed planner is always much-needed. So you can snag it now and save it for when the next school year is on your mind, or put it to use ASAP! Just like I mentioned in the FREE Planner Bundle for Mom, I had something in mind that I wanted dearly, but just could not find it.

I created this planner out of a desire to have ONE place to track all of the following in 5 pages (and I went all out! You get two versions... normal printable AND editable PDF all in one zip file!):

I want to openly admit that I've been completely distracted lately... by an overwhelming to-do list, endless obligations, spreading myself thin, and spending WAY too much time on social media. It has resulted in my being irritable and impatient with my kids.

The insane amount of time I spend on my phone is one of those things that I've been "aware" of for some time, but it's also something I find myself making a ton of excuses about. I work online so I need access to my email, my blog, and my social media. Plus I'm a stay at home mom with littles, so I don't get out and have many adult conversations. I have friends and family who don't live close by, so I need to keep up with their lives too. Plus, those same family and friends want to see what we're up to. RIGHT? And with many life changes going on right now and various tasks popping up left and right... of course my mind is overflowing 24/7. My brain is an internet browser with 4.7 million tabs open at all times.

I'm a "fixer." I'm always tinkering, never satisfied, always searching for a "better" way. It can be both a blessing and a curse. I try to share my tinkerings here so that the blessing aspect of being nit-picky can outweigh how irritating this part of my personality is (my poor husband!).

When I was looking for a planner at the beginning of my school year, I wanted something that covered EVERYTHING. I don't want one planner for school, another for home and appointments, another for my blog, and another for church/ministry obligations. I need it all in one place, and as much as I heavily rely on my phone to remind me of stuff, I still want a physical print-out to help me manage my time.

I was looking for something that would work for someone who homeschools, runs a home, meal plans, AND either works from home or is involved heavily in ministry (which is about 90% of the homeschool moms I know!).

I'm a highly eclectic homeschooler, with some very clear Charlotte Mason and Classical tendencies... but I'm also so eclectic that I don't even tend to homeschool the same "way" each year, all year long. I ran across this notion of "tidal homeschool" a while ago via Pam Barnhill's podcast and her interview with Melissa Wiley. Once I heard Melissa describe their "ebb and flow" of learning throughout their year, I knew that what had been a natural tendency for us was not a mere lack of "diligence" on my part.

I'm an INFJ (sometimes ENFJ), and as such, I am highly intuitive. Certain seasons of life, seasons of the year, and life events change how and why (and where) we homeschool. I have always made those adjustments to fit the circumstances naturally- but also fought guilt over not always (well, ever) finishing the "whole curriculum."

Here we are! We are almost finished! This has been a long series, but rightfully so. The idea of drastically altering how you approach education for your children is no small matter. We are now on the final "question" of this series, question 3. There are worksheets (FREE) in the Practical Joy Resource library to add significant depth to this exploration. You definitely, definitely want those. Grab the workbook from the Resource Library here.

Question 3: Should I just take a break from homeschooling? Will that fix whatever the problem is?

I want to explore a few different aspects of this question, but I want to assert up front that there is not a right or wrong answer. As has been the case in every portion of this series, what's right for YOU and your family, your season, your child, will not be the right answer for everyone else. This is a journey of finding YOUR place in homeschooling and being certain that it truly is best for everyone involved.

Do you have a student who needs consistent review over the same skills in order to truly master them? How about a student who is just learning to read and you need a good source of sight words to pull from for instruction and game play? I did, too!

My daughter, who was diagnosed with "profound dyslexia" and "probable dyscalculia," needs to continuously cycle through the same information, even as we add additional skills. Why? Because with dyslexia and many other learning disabilities, if you don't use it, you lose it! I was tired of reteaching EVERY skill we had ever learned before I could get to the actual new content- and obviously, so was she!

Have you ever noticed that it seems that many homeschoolers don't necessarily choose home education for themselves? It seems to choose them? So sometimes we come into it a bit overwhelmed, making decisions as we go, sometimes making one mistake after another.... (raising hand!)

Sometimes it ends up being more than we signed up for. We may even consider quitting. Or maybe we aren't that far into questioning our choices, but we also know there has to be a better way.

Maybe you started homeschooling out of necessity, and you jumped in hurriedly?

Maybe you just dove in hoping for the best, but you weren't sure what to expect?

Maybe you thought you had it figured out, but life circumstances, learning disabilities, personality conflicts... something... came in and derailed your plans?

Maybe things aren't going so badly, but you also don't feel like you're thriving like it seems others are?

Maybe you're kind of new and feeling overwhelmed, unsure of how to make decisions when there are just SO MANY options and opinions out there?